There will be some folks who will be getting ukes this holiday season, so let's contact them and bring them to our January meetings to get them started.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Let's do it!
There will be some folks who will be getting ukes this holiday season, so let's contact them and bring them to our January meetings to get them started.
Friday, December 9, 2011
White Christmas, with enhancements
Some of you may know of Jim D'Ville, the uke instructor who teaches "playing the uke by ear", versus using song sheets. He gives workshops around the country and always has a crowd in his classes. He also has a (free) blog that you might find useful.
http://playukulelebyear.blogspot.com/
One of the recent entries in his blog is on White Christmas. Find it by scrolling down a few entries. His version of the song starts with a simple, but acceptable, three chord arrangement in the key of C, i.e., C, F, and G7 then adds Dm to spice it up a bit, then in version #3 adds two more, C7 and Fm for a very nice arrangement and finally for #4, adds B, F#7 and Gdim.
F#7 is the only one that you might have trouble fingering -- I expect you will find the others are easy and familiar. And if that is a bit too much, you can simply delete that chord (in two places) and use the G7 as shown in version #3.
The notations are using the Circle of Fifths system, so if you want to do it in, say the key of F, you can substitute F for I, Bb for IV and so forth. But in this blog, he shows the chord fingerings in the familiar key of C
Check it out and let's see if we can see how this goes on Dec. 13.
Ralph
http://playukulelebyear.blogspot.com/
One of the recent entries in his blog is on White Christmas. Find it by scrolling down a few entries. His version of the song starts with a simple, but acceptable, three chord arrangement in the key of C, i.e., C, F, and G7 then adds Dm to spice it up a bit, then in version #3 adds two more, C7 and Fm for a very nice arrangement and finally for #4, adds B, F#7 and Gdim.
F#7 is the only one that you might have trouble fingering -- I expect you will find the others are easy and familiar. And if that is a bit too much, you can simply delete that chord (in two places) and use the G7 as shown in version #3.
The notations are using the Circle of Fifths system, so if you want to do it in, say the key of F, you can substitute F for I, Bb for IV and so forth. But in this blog, he shows the chord fingerings in the familiar key of C
Check it out and let's see if we can see how this goes on Dec. 13.
Ralph
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Beginner videos
We all learn in different ways, and for many, it is instructional videos. The musician in the video will have his or her individual style and assumption on how fast you can pick up his/her tips. Personally I find that many generally go a bit too fast for me, but this is a personal opinion.
Jeff Burton has started to make several beginner videos for the real beginner and if you are in that group, you might find his style is slow and easy to comprehend.
Here is his link. He has 5 beginner videos out at this time. If you are starting out, you might like his style.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC8A8A4D91F4D40A4
Jeff Burton has started to make several beginner videos for the real beginner and if you are in that group, you might find his style is slow and easy to comprehend.
Here is his link. He has 5 beginner videos out at this time. If you are starting out, you might like his style.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC8A8A4D91F4D40A4